1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game apparatus which advances a game in accordance with a game program, a game controlling method and a computer program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A role-playing game (hereinafter referred to as “RPG”) has been known as one genre of video games, in which a lead character grows through various experiences such as solving problems or fighting against enemy characters to achieve an ultimate goal like a defeat of an enemy boss character. In this way an RPG usually progresses based upon a game story.
In an RPG, a player operates a player character to collect various kinds of information in a virtual world provided by the game and to execute various events based upon the collected information, thereby solving mysteries or secrets of the virtual world as well as growing the player character. Like this an RPG generally has elements of a character's growth and a story.
Recently, there exist games in which a game story is configured of multiple sub-stories. In such games, a combination of sub-stories may be varied in accordance with a player's selections of options provided during the progress of the game, selections of routes through which the player character moves in the virtual world or any other arbitrary actions that players can select. By varying the combinations of the sub-stories like this, a player may enjoy new events or new story developments every time the player plays the game, even if the player completed the game in the past.
As an example of the above-mentioned type of games, there exists so-called a “multi-ending type” of game. In the multi-ending type of game, a player may view other endings than the ending that the player viewed when he/she completed the game in the past. This is very effective way for having a player play a same game repeatedly. However, this type of game has a disadvantage that the burden on game developers should increase.
For the purpose of providing a player with various game stories as possible without adopting the multi-endings, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-292137 discloses a method for storing results of selections made by a player in respective selection points in which various options are provided for selection to advance the game. In Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-292137, when a player again plays a game which the player completed once, the options selected by the player in the previous play are omitted from the options provided in the selection points, thereby inevitably developing a scenario that is different from the scenario developed in the previous play.
Further, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-81346 discloses a method for varying game progresses by providing a main scenario, which remains unchanged every time the player plays the game, and sub-stories, which are inserted in parts of the main scenario. According to Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-81346, the game progresses based upon the scenario that is made up freely by combining some parameters, such as settings of dialogues of non-player characters (hereinafter referred to as “NPC”), i.e., whether the dialogue is a normal conversation or a rumor, or seriousness of contents of the sub-stories. This method enables the game developers to provide players with more various story lines with fewer burdens on the development of the game.
Meanwhile, types of game apparatuses are diversified in recent years, and a game apparatus having a touch panel and a touch (stylus) pen, both of which serve as an input device, is in widespread use. The game apparatus or game terminal like this enhances flexibility of input processing by player. In puzzle games and the like particularly, an operation using the touch pen allows a player to take advantage of the player's expressiveness, thereby enhancing the player's interest in the game.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-328414 discloses a method that makes full use of this feature in an RPG. According to Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-328414, a player draws a graphic of item that the player wants a player character to use in a battle scene and the like in the RPG by a pen input using the touch pen and the like. The item that appears in the battle scene is determined based on a result of a graphic recognition that is performed automatically when the pen input occurs. Accordingly, the player has to draw the item as accurately as possible so that the item that the player wants to use should appear. Thus, this method improves interest of the player in the game by performing the graphic drawing that is unique to the pen input.
However, according to the method disclosed in Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-292137, a game scenario varies in only the selection points set by the program in advance. Also, because the options that were selected by the user when the user played the game in the past are automatically omitted, the player is forcibly deprived of a chance to experience his/her favorite story again. Therefore, the player's interest in the game may be degraded. In Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-81346, the flexibility of game story development is insufficient.
Also, according to Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-328414, only the items that appear in the game are varied by input operation using the touch pen, but the game story itself does not change. Therefore, the player's interest in the game may be lowered.